CPKC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 19, 2026

Nelly Korda

Royal Mayfair Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, joining us ahead of the 2026 CPKC Women's Open is Nelly Korda. Nelly, you've had an exciting year this year: Two majors and another two wins. Can you just reflect a bit on your season so far.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, obviously very happy so far with my year. You know, there has been some incredible highs, some maybe -- Evian maybe a little bit questionable. But that's just kind of how golf is. You sometimes ride the wave of the highs and then sometimes golf humbles you. Sometimes maybe sometimes a lot, too.

But overall, just very happy with my year, my team, and the way my body has held up so far.

Q. You've talked a lot about how you felt a bit more free on the golf course. How do you feel like that's contributed to your performance?

NELLY KORDA: I think it's definitely helped me a lot by just kind of eliminating an element that sometimes people struggle with a lot mentally. I think when you're just thinking about just hitting one shot at a time and not necessarily draining so much mental energy on like what's going wrong during your round, it just kind of frees you up and also gives you good mental freeness on like being able to attack the next hole and knowing there is always another shot or another opportunity.

Sometimes you are just not hitting it well, but knowing that the mental side of it when you're not hitting it well and also are in a bit of a mental slump, I think it just kind of accumulates.

So making sure that I'm fresh mentally and also have a good mindset out here, where I know that I'm not always going to have my A-game, I sometimes may not even have my B-Game, but my C-game can still hopefully perform and I can still lean on it.

But knowing that if I don't have that freeness, I lock up even more.

Q. And then obviously Solheim Cup is next month.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a part of that team again this year?

NELLY KORDA: So fun. I mean, the electric feeling that you get on that first tee, there is just nothing like it. It's always one of those weeks where on Sunday you're always looking forward to making the team in two years and hopefully being in contention to make the team.

There is no greater feeling. I've been lucky enough to play for my country a lot of times, and there is actually no greater feeling.

Q. Being in Edmonton, first time the competition has come back to Edmonton since 2013. Forgive me, not sure if you were near 2013.

NELLY KORDA: No, I was not.

Q. Is this your first time in Edmonton?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it is.

Q. How is it so far for you? What are you enjoying? Have you been able to explore?

NELLY KORDA: The mosquitoes have been really liking me. I will say that was a little bit of a shock to the system. Overall, I mean, found some great coffee shops, found some really good restaurants; been really enjoying my time on the golf course.

Thankfully the mosquitoes have gotten better since Monday.

The golf course is beautiful. I mean, you kind of have the skyline of kind of downtown Edmonton too on the golf course which is really pretty.

Overall really enjoying my time so far.

Q. Do you enjoy an older golf course than a lot of the new ones? This course is 104 years old; Stanley Thompson design.

NELLY KORDA: I do. To be honest, I enjoy the competition really. That's kind of what drives me and my fuel, is everyone playing the same golf course. There are some architectural features to a golf course that I always really appreciate. That's also why I love playing links golf.

And then the historic aspect of every golf course is always neat to know how much rich history is at a place.

Overall, when it comes to what fuels me, it's always the competition of competing against the best players in the world.

Q. You've been on the Tour for a while. Every year do you see another teenager coming along? Is it tough to stay No. 1?

NELLY KORDA: I mean, that's just kind of how it is. I mean, I'm obviously getting older. There is new girls coming in. It's also good because it makes me want to raise my level. You know, I think that's just what sports are. You're relevant, relevant, relevant until that new generation come in and kind of sweeps in and starts to dominate, too. It's just kind of like the evolution of sports.

But I find it as fuel, too, because obviously they're younger. They I would say don't have as much scar tissue as maybe the veterans have on tour.

But it's also motivational fuel. At the end of the day it's just great for the Tour, great for the fans to have new and upcoming amazing talent out here.

Q. Your dad won the Australian Open tennis. How come you didn't become a tennis player?

NELLY KORDA: Great question. I get that one a lot. But my sister started playing. She's five years older than I am and she started playing golf, and then my dad really got into it and it was something that we could all do together at once versus tennis was very kind of one-on-one.

So I always associated golf with family time, and I think that's kind of what grew my love for it at a really young age. After that it was kind of like the competition, playing against the best players in my age group.

But I've always associated golf from a really young age as family time. It was just something that we all did together.

Q. They're both individual sports though.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

Q. As opposed to team sports. Is that what drew you? If you're not going to play tennis, you're going to play golf. You're out there by yourself.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I would say, you know, in team sports or in individual sports you kind of have to choose your own destiny. You're in control, versus in team sports I think there is a lot of the other variables that control if you're playing or not playing.

So I think that's one thing that my parents really loved about individual sports, is like at the end of the day, yeah, sometimes it sucks if you're off. Then it's all on you. You can't rely on teammates to maybe pick up your slack.

But that's also what's really great and rewarding of putting so much work in, is that you can celebrate greatly with your team. But I think that they've just always really liked individual sports because you kind of control your own fate in a sense.

Q. Your brother is a tennis player though.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

Q. Your dad did get one of his children playing the same sport he did.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, actually he didn't want any of us to play tennis. My brother played hockey for -- until he was 12. He was on a travel hockey team that was probably one of the best in the country.

Then my dad was coaching a player at the time and that player played Novak Djokovic on Arthur Ashe, a night match at the U.S. Open, and he fell in love with the atmosphere and picked up tennis from the age of 12.

The great thing about my parents is they wanted us to be passionate about anything we were doing. A team sport, if it was an individual sport, if it was academics, they just wanted us to be passionate about it, and I think all three of us were lucky enough to grow a true love for anything that we were doing.

Q. You like hockey, too?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

Q. One of the best hockey players in the world plays in Edmonton.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I do. I like hockey. My dad and my brother are big hockey fans. But Boston Bruins fans, I don't think that --

Q. You're from Florida. You're not a Florida Panthers fan?

NELLY KORDA: You know, being an athlete you connect with other athletes, and I think my brother -- since having a true love for hockey from a really young age he's been lucky enough to meet a bunch of guys that play on various teams. I think he just roots for the guys versus the team.

When it comes to a team that we all were pretty tied to, my dad was good friends with Chára who was the captain for Boston Bruins. Now Pastrnak is there, too, so I think over time we've just become fans of the Boston Bruins.

Q. Not Oiler fans?

NELLY KORDA: (Laughing.) Boston Bruins.

Q. Boston Bruins.

NELLY KORDA: I mean, you guys have a good team.

Q. Thank you. A lot of guys show up at the course looking to break 90 struggle with the confidence and mental stuff. They're a little bit surprised to find that the best player in the world also deals with that. What are the keys to staying on the right side of that?

NELLY KORDA: No matter what you do in life no one is going to be an expert. Everyone deals with stuff. If it's being on stage, present in a meeting, everyone has those jitters, right, so no one is perfect.

That's what we learn through life. And I would say when it comes to giving advice to people, it's just to -- I would say in juniors is to stay your own course. It's really easy to compare yourself to others, what everyone else is doing, but for juniors I would say not to lose yourself and like to really stay committed to your own path.

And when to comes to coming over for anyone, like mental stuff in golf, golf is always going humble you no matter what. Pros hit bad shots too. Everyone hits bad shots. It's just making sure that you're okay with kind of that aspect of the game.

THE MODERATOR: One last fun one from us. We saw you commented on the Jonas Brothers going on tour.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Are you going to make it out to one of their concerts this year?

NELLY KORDA: I hope so, yeah. I hope to make it out to one of their Florida ones. That would be cool. Gosh, it's such a throwback but that's also like my childhood, too. Burning Up, I used to sing that song at the top of my lungs in my room, so -- or still in my car to this day good if that comes on.

So it would be amazing. Maybe hopefully I'll meet them, too, but you never know.

THE MODERATOR: Perfect, thank you, Nelly.

NELLY KORDA: Thank you.